SMUD asks area residents to reduce power usage for ninth straight day

With today's temperature forecasted near 110 degrees, the Sacramento Municipal Utilities District (SMUD) has issued a Flex Alert, requesting that customers once again limit their use of electricity from 3 p.m. to 10 p.m for the ninth consecutive day. "Nine straight days of unprecedented heat has led to record demand for electricity and critically tight power supplies across the state. SMUD would like to thank its customers and community for conserving electricity and helping to keep the lights on," reads a statement from SMUD to its customers. According to SMUD, the following are the top ways residential customers can conserve electricity and help avoid emergency rotating outages: Precool your home before 4 p.m. To do that, turn down the thermostat to 75 degrees in the mid afternoon and let your AC work to get the home as cool as possible. Then, at 4 p.m., raise the thermostat to 82 degrees. That will help keep your home cool during peak hours while also comfortable. Do not run large appliances or equipment during peak hours and turn off unnecessary lights. Charge personal electronic devices and electric vehicles before 4 p.m. or after 9 p.m. Commercial and industrial customers are asked to reduce the use of lighting not essential for safety purposes in garages, hallways, lobbies, warehouses and displays. The minimized use of office equipment, supply and exhaust fans, circulating pumps, and maintenance and repair equipment will also lower the demand for electricity. According to the alert, SMUD will, "exhaust every avenue before rotating outages are called. This includes procuring power on the open market, activating its voluntary Air Conditioning Load Management program and calling on commercial customers who have previously agreed to reduce consumption." Should rotating outages become necessary, SMUD states that impacted customers will be given as much advanced notice as possible, and no customer will be out of power for more than approximately one hour. SMUD would rotate outages by sections until the emergency is over. No section will be repeated until all 39 sections have been cycled through. Customers can learn which section they are in at smud.org/RotatingOutage. Thursday's Flex Alert to conserve power comes at the same time the Air Quality Index indicates poor air quality due to nearby fires. As of 11:45 a.m.. the city of Folsom reported an AQI of 212, which is very unhealthy. The latest reading was an improvement from one hour earlier when it was reported at 356 which is classified as hazardous.